Registered: Aug 2006
The book suggests that if we have a sufficiently powerful computer, we can run a complex automata, which will emulate behavour of our universe.
That is correct. If we knew precisely how the laws of physics work, we should be able to run a simulation of a universe running under the same laws of physics. It would be smaller than our own universe, due to the fact that a simulation cannot contain more information than the computer simulating it, but it could still be large enough to run a good portion of our universe. In fact, it is conceivable that intelligent life could arise in such a simulation, leading to a sort of Matrix scenario. This idea is described in detail here.
It is also possible for computers to run simulations of universes running under other sets of physical laws. In fact, every cellular automaton and probably every other program as well could be considered as being a simulated universe.
My question is:
How is it possible to run universe simulation, which is quantum, on a classical computer?
The idea is that the effects we see as being random are not actually random, but rather the result of nonrandom processes that are simply occuring on too small of a scale for us to detect them yet (and it's possible we will never be able to detect them). For example, imagine if you were running a cellular automaton of rule 110, only when you had a neighborhood of 101, rather than the result being 1, it was equal to the cell of a rule 30 cellular automaton running 'underneath' it. In the rule 110 universe, this would appear to be quite random, even though no randomness was actually involved. The idea is that something along these lines, nonrandom generation that appears random, is the basis of quantum 'randomness'.
What you don't know can hurt you.
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